Literally No Room For You At The Table

(After graduating college, I kept in touch with friends from high school. After a school event I was invited to and attended, they invite me to join them for dinner afterwards. I drive alone, and when I arrive at the restaurant, the group is starting to be seated, having never made a reservation for a dozen people. We are split up into a few groups, and one friend decides to arrange the tables herself.)

Friend #1: “Oh, we could move these two together!”

Server: “No, no, leave them.”

(Friend #1 sees me and realizes I tagged along.)

Friend #1: “Oh, [My Name], I forgot you were coming. You can sit with [Friends #2, 3, 4, & 5].”

(These four friends are already seated at a booth that can hold four people.)

Friend #1: “Is it okay if he sits on the end with them?”

Server: “No.”

(The server passes out menus for us and vanishes.)

Friend #1: “Go ahead and sit down.”

(She gives me a chair to place at the end of the table. I reluctantly sit down and look at the menu. Friend #2 and Friend #3 are ignoring the rest of the table because they are dating and cannot stop looking and smiling at each other, while Friend #4 and Friend #5 are talking with each other about a well-known book series, and are ignoring me entirely. At some point, the server returns with a manager.)

Manager: *to me* “Sir, you’re not allowed to sit there. You’re causing a fire hazard, and I know my server has already talked to you about it.”

(I am completely flabbergasted. I am a shy person and have serious trouble dealing with confrontation.)

Me: “So… what d—”

Manager: “You’ll have to move closer, away from the end, or leave.”

(I scoot as close as I can to Friend #3, and bury my face in the menu out of shame.)

Me: *quietly* “I don’t like going to [Restaurant]…”

(The table ignored me for the rest of the night.)